Hey everyone! I hope you enjoyed yesterday’s post. I know I loved sharing my experiences with you. 🙂 Ready for some more? Here ya go!

Here are some of the first photos I took in 2012, starting with my birthday on New Year’s Day!

This was the view from our hotel room Monday afternoon, January 1st, 2012 in San Francisco. Room 719 Balcony. The first picture taken from that spot that year! 😉

Another shot of the hotel lobby, just because it’s beautiful. They took those hanging lights down the next day. Otman and I watched and mourned a little, because we loved them. 🙂 The food and service in that restaurant, The Eclipse, was fantastic, by the way.

We decided to take the day, since most everything was closed, to take BART (stands for Bay Area Rapid Transit – the Bay’s subway/rail system) to Alameda, to see where Wensi lives and hang out with her for a little while.

 

Wensi was nice enough to drive us around to see all the cool houses in Alameda, and she took us to the Naval Yard to see all the ships.

I love ivy-covered walls.

 

The view from the naval yard at sunset was spectacular.

 

Can you tell how tired I am from the night before? LOL

They needed some street repair, that’s for sure! 🙂

The next day, we took the Muni over to the Cable Car Museum. My dad STRESSED that we see this, since we didn’t get a chance to last time we were in San Francisco. It was super interesting.

These cables ARE the cables that control all the cable cars in the city, and they are constantly running. There is no way for the cable cars to stop while attached to this cable, so the grip man in charge of the clamp that “grips” onto the cable, has to release the clamp from the cable to stop the car.

 

Immediately after touring the museum, we hopped on a car and rode over to Union Square. 🙂 It was fun. The cable car operators and grip men are real characters, and always make you laugh.

 

Union Square:

 

Couldn’t believe this when I saw it in the middle of Union Square:

 

We ate lunch at the Cheesecake Factory – I had the most delicious lentil soup I’ve ever tasted, along with some mixed greens tossed in balsamic dressing. Of course, we HAD to get a piece of cheesecake, but we were good and split one piece between the two of us. It was a pineapple upside-down cake cheesecake. Yuuummmmmmmm…..

 

We took another Muni to Golden Gate Park and walked around, enjoying the nice weather. We walked through the area housing the de Young museum and the California Academy of Sciences, and spotted this fountain. We think it was done as a prank, because it was FILLED with really good smelling bubbles!

 

And of course, what is a trip to San Francisco without a visit to the Golden Gate Bridge? We went at the perfect time, too – just a little before sunset. I’m ordering one of these as a canvas for my home:

 

We then proceeded to walk across the Golden Gate bridge. What a beautiful view of the city there is from there! Especially at sunset, when the light is reflecting off the buildings.

This is the fence that is up at certain points of the bridge (not the whole bridge), to prevent people from jumping off and committing suicide. I heard that the Golden Gate is the #1 spot for suicide jumps.. I wonder why?

 

 

 

As the sun started to set, the sky got even more vibrant.

 

That’s Fort Point down below.

Right as we returned from walking back across the bridge, the fog started rolling in.

 

Wensi picked us up from the base of the bridge, and drove us down to Crissy Field, where there’s a beach. This is where I took this picture:

 

Wensi then gave us a ride to Twin Peaks, where you can see the entire city from the top of the mountain. The picture doesn’t do the view justice. It was gorgeous. I wish I had brought my tripod along for this shot:

 

Keep your eyes peeled for the last San Francisco post, with some shots from our drive out to Napa Valley! 🙂

 

If you like this article, I encourage you to share it via Twitter or Facebook! As always, I would love to hear your thoughts through your comments below.
South Carolina Wedding Photographer, Portrait Photographer and Boudoir Photographer
For more creative and interesting photography, please visit http://www.stephaniesnyderphotography.com!